Naruto's Tale - Shadows of Blood and Glory
by elorielee
Summary: Naruto's potential is staggering, but the obstacles in his way to having others acknowledge him are almost insurmountable. Not that Naruto cares about that... There are so many geniuses in Konoha, so how about another aiming to claim that title? Not that Naruto cares about titles... When you're alone, with nothing to do but train, you either get good or dead. Epic in scope.
1. Chapter 1

For once, I woke up not merely full of energy and zest, but with a genuine smile stretching my lips to the fullest. The wondrous smell and sizzle of bacon had me springing to my feet and almost running to the table, quickly pigging out as a pair of shadow clones brought more dishes heaped full of yumminess.

Shadow clones were the reason for my happiness. I was pretty sure the rest of the contents of the Forbidden Scroll of Seals would also prove useful, but the one jutsu I'd learned yesterday would guarantee my success as a ninja, combined with my massive chakra reserves it was enough to set in steel my path towards becoming the greatest ninja in the Elemental Lands.

Checking the alarm clock, I saw that I had enough time before the Academy to absorb the memories of the clones who'd spent the night training and spying, as well as replace them. Putting on the orange jumpsuit and making a mental note of the need for a proper outfit, I ran off to the forest's edge, enjoying the crisp, refreshingly cool early air of Konoha. Concentrating, measuring the amount of chakra with precision, employing a jounin level technique I'd learned from a book borrowed from ANBU headquarters with much effort (the learning - the borrowing went surprisingly easy), I unsealed some equipment and created fifty overcharged shadow clone.

A bit of experimentation yesterday showed that when a shadow clone created another clone, it absorbed its memories, before forwarding them to me when it dispelled in its turn. Allowing clones to digest the memories would go a long way towards preventing massive headaches, possible brain damage, and would probably make the learning easier, as each group of clones studied a discrete subject or were employed in a specific task. Of course, I had every intention of working further on the memory transfer thing, but there was no rush - I was pretty sure the current setup couldn't be easily improved, at least for training purposes.

With each supervisor clone spawning forty more, that was a cool two thousand practicing and learning. For the first four, I held onto several kunai and shuriken pouches, they would perfect throwing and dodging techniques. The next six groups each received a portion of the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, which I'd secretly made copies of yesterday. They were to review the jutsus and seals therein for useful ones, and each was to actually start studying the best of them. A full ten groups were assigned to chakra control, the bedrock of all ninja techniques. It had taken me almost three years to master tree and water walking, but the medical books I'd stolen (and several of the ANBU manuals) had much more advanced training techniques, in fact some of those exercises sounded insane. With five hundred clones working on chakra control day and night, I figured I'd be ready to start working on medical techniques and genjutsu, the art of illusion, in a couple of months, and possibly have perfect control in a year.

The next twenty five groups were to work on elemental manipulation, five each to air, water, earth, fire and lightning. I had a large number of jutsu scrolls waiting for me to master elemental chakra, and with Konoha being Fire Country's ninja village, a good third were fire techniques. Most of the scrolls came from the bloody ruins of the Uchiha district, good riddance to those bastards, but I'd made sure to nick as many as I could whenever the opportunity arose. Most ninja had a single elemental affinity, but old man Hokage, the Professor, had mastered all five, so it was possible - and with shadow clones, it wouldn't even be difficult.

The last five clone groups headed off for training would be working on my calligraphy, the basic skill need for fuuinjutsu, the art of sealing - the art for which my clan, the lost and mighty Uzumaki, were known and feared for. I didn't have many treatises on the subject, unfortunately, and the only real seal master Konoha currently had was the Sannin Jirayia, who was rarely in residence, but this art was what had made my father so feared (together with his speed), and I was counting on natural talent. Even if I had none, I would persevere, as the sealing arts were in my opinion the greatest tool a ninja could have, a skilled practitioner could supposedly do anything with seals.

With the clones running off, knowing to wait on spawning the many training clones until they received the memories of the night, I sat seiza and conjured a single weak shadow clone which instantly dispelled itself, informing the legion to dispel. Trying to meditate, I waited to absorb the memories of the clones I'd set to work yesterday evening. I pretty much sucked at meditation, but maybe the couple of hundred clones I'd set to trying it had gotten somewhere in fourteen hours of trying it. Five minutes later, a huge bunch of memories hit me, and meditation suddenly got easier. In something of a trance, I accepted the large packets of knowledge and experience that hit me every thirty seconds or so, slowly but surely incorporating them into myself. When a minute passed without more returning, I checked my nose for blood, and sighed in relief when there was none in evidence. The headache was already fading.

Breathing deeply, I rested a while more, then called up another twenty overcharged clones, actually feeling the chakra drain this time. Even my reserves weren't endless. These eight hundred would get to spying and stealing. I'd only sent off half as many last night, and what I'd found and learned was very interesting indeed. A whole heapful of empty notebooks and pens were the first things stolen, techniques and knowledge copied where they couldn't take the originals without arousing suspicion. There were limited opportunities to eavesdrop at night, and I couldn't help but blush crimson at the recollection of what I'd seen and heard concerning adult ninja's partying habits. Many security precautions and seals had been copied, in anticipation of breaking past them. The Hokage's library, portions of ANBU headquarters, the confidential records, research and intelligence divisions - all those and more would require a bit more creativity to infiltrate. I was most interested in what my parents left me, their legacies sure to be magnificent - assuming the bastards hadn't stolen everything. Learning the Hiraishin would be so cool, inventing it from nothing more than a sealed tri-bladed kunai not so much… and yes, they'd actually gotten three of those rarities for me. As shadow clones were nothing more than chakra constructs, they could take any shape, which made for incredible utility in spying and infiltration when combined with their ability to pass on their memories.

Getting to my feet, a bit shaky, I made a dozen more clones - this time without hand signs or words. It required much more chakra than expected, but my control had obviously improved, and more than that, With a brief salute, they morphed into different people and ran off - after the energy I'd expended, I could use more food, and they'd also take care of shopping for clothes, restocking the larder, cleaning, and everything mundane. Every time I used the jutsu, "I love shadow clones" ran through my head.

I was actually not very far from mastering the shadow clone jutsu. Mastering a technique meant much more than merely learning to execute it. I'd managed tree-walking after a bit more than a week, while water-walking had required a month before I could use it reliably. Mastering those mean being able to use them unconsciously, to stick to any material, to change my instincts and perception of what could be walk on, and more - mastering a jutsu means learning creative and new way to use it. I'd only mastered one of the basic academy three, the replacement technique. With a thought, a shadow clone could take my place, a seamless transposition that would fool anyone. The so-called transformation technique taught by the academy was actually a minor genjutsu, an illusion that required so little chakra that it was simply beyond my present abilities. It was months after I'd learned how to do a real transformation that I realized that what I'd actually done was develop as S-rank shapeshifting jutsu, with almost limitless applications. Needless to say, I kept that very quiet, but it did come in extraordinarily handy, allowing me for one to buy things without being thrown out of stores - not to mention its utility in pranks. I wasn't sure, but at a guess, most ninja were lazy and learned jutsu without truly mastering them. Even without the shadow clones, I would have been head and shoulders above those fools… eventually.

Sauntering slowly back home, I began to consider what I wanted tonights horde learn. Since my clones had mastered the first exercises for air, lightning and water (that last only just), it was a good place to learn and master a couple of lower ranking jutsu for each. Mentally going through the list of those I could recall off hand, I decided on which. Gale Palm and Deflection Shield for air, the first a simple blast of bludgeoning wind issuing from one's hand, the second a brief whirling of wind designed to deflect a single storm of projectiles or a lightning attack, both useful, quick to learn and easy to use, and cheap in chakra cost. For lightning, I picked a simple offensive D-rank technique called Lightning Ball, which created a small ball of lightning that flew at a target, exploding on contact to shock whatever it hit and those around it, and Electromagnetic Murder, which simply released a wave of electricity from the hands, its power and range dependent on chakra investment. I was very happy to avoid having to personally experiment with lightning-aspected chakra, as it seemed to be very painful and all too easy to lose control of. Of the two hundred clones playing with it during the night, only thirty seven survived to see dawn.

Since my skill at water elemental transmutation was evidently weaker than air or lightning, I picked three very basic E-rank techniques to concentrate on. The Water Mirror jutsu turned any amount of water into a mirror, which was useful for discreetly looking around. Fish Spit allowed the user to spit a jet of water from the mouth, capable of briefly stunning since it was shot with some force, and Trick of Water, which let you to flick a hand and toss a small wave, mostly good for blinding a foe.

Another thing I determined to do tomorrow was put on resistance and weight seals. The one thing shadow clones could not do was help my physical prowess, and there was a reason even the most powerful ninjutsu masters learned taijutsu and kenjutsu - without knowing how to fight hand to hand or with a weapon, even a fresh genin could take you down once your chakra was exhausted. Not only that, but chakra itself was part spiritual and part physical energy, and the healthier and stronger you were, the greater your chakra reserves. Oh, and storage seals, that was another priority.

Eating a second savory breakfast, I also determined to work on ninja tools, awareness and traps. I was already pretty good with traps, but there was always room for improvement, and there are a lot of things you could do with ninja-wire and seals. As for awareness, a game of blindfold tag, and later on blindfold spar, would do wonders for my stealth, reflexes and alertness. Later, I'd also try to remove my hearing, working solely with scent and the feel of vibrations and chakra, and then just concentrate just on hearing. According to the few records I could find, the Uzumaki were pretty good sensors, and that sort of ability was incredibly useful. It was also dangerous, as ninja with such abilities learned to rely on them - I had every intention of having seals that would completely mask my chakra's presence, eventually. There was also improving my use of the hand seals used for triggering techniques, and...

Lots and lots of plans, but now it was time for a final visit to the academy. I used the Body Flicker jutsu, which I'd mastered the very first night and so recently digested, to avoid being late. The only other jutsus I'd mastered were the shadow shuriken clone and the shadow kunai clone variation, with which I could unleash a storm of missiles with a single cloned weapon. The Forbidden Scroll contained a vast improvement on the Body Flicker, the Pulse Step, but it carried some serious drawbacks for anyone who didn't have very good control. With Body Flicker, you move with immense speed granted by supercharged chakra, while still traveling the intervening distance. The Pulse Step, on the other hand, is a true time/space ninjutsu, a very real step towards the Hiraishin, the Flying Thunder God technique which allowed for instantaneous teleportation. Besides having a much higher chakra cost, the slightest miscalculation or error could put you in the unfavorable position of superimposing yourself on an object, generally resulting in a very messy death. I had every intention of mastering it - for use with clones only.

I wasn't surprised when I was greeted with derision when I entered the classroom, a couple of idiots shouting out, "Naruto, what the hell are you doing here, huh?" and "Only those who passed the genin test are supposed to be here, loser!"

"See this?" I pointed at the head protector on my forehead and walked past them to the last row, taking a seat near the ever-quiet Hinata Hyuuga. The only nice girl in class, it hadn't surprised me when her unpleasant clan put their slave-seal on her forehead and removed her from her position as clan heir. One of the reasons I had my spies checking records and going through the village laws was to see if there was anything I could do to help her. Since both the Uzumaki and my father's Namikaze clans were still on record as Konoha clans, I figured I'd be able to do something if there were legal means. If not, I'd still find a way, I was more than willing to shed the blood of Konoha's supposedly strongest clan. There was a time limit here, since I was sure those inbred morons would marry her off to one of her cousins when she reached fourteen or at the most sixteen years of age, but I wasn't worried about deadlines anymore.

I rested my still throbbing head on the desk, stoppering my ears when the Last Uchiha's two most fervent fangirls started shouting and fighting over who would sit next to him. When I pulled my fingers out, Iruka was lecturing, "Beginning today, all of you are real ninjas. But you are still merely rookie genin. The hard work has just begun. You will soon be assigned duties by the village. Today we will be creating teams of three genin, and you will be assigned a jounin-sensei. You will perform your assigned duties under their supervision. We tried to balance each team's strengths."

He then proceeded to name the teams, "... Next, team seven. Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke."

I sighed in dejection at the declaration. The shrieking harpy of a fan-girl and the Uchiha emo were a very bad combination. If I wanted to retain my hearing, I'd better to get my clones to look for something that would keep her quiet and sedate, a seal… or possibly paralyzing poison. Which was another thing I need to get working on, another thing clones couldn't help me with. Even with the regeneration bloodline the demon fox imprisoned in me granted, poisons could be a problem - and also a useful weapon. With another sigh at the thought of my very painful future, I noted that Hinata was not unhappy about her posting to team eight with Shino and Kiba. A tracking and capture team, presumably. Team nine was apparently still in operation from last year, and team ten, another generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho, closed the list.

Then came the long, long wait for our jounin sensei, who obviously had no respect for meeting times, or for us rookie genin. Shikamaru's sensei seemed to be fittingly lazy, while Hinata's was remarkably beautiful and seemed nice. It was no surprise that all the good ones were taken, and I didn't expect much from ours. With a full belly and no company worth mentioning, I used one of the basic camping jutsus to soften the classroom floor and went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ow!" I rolled away from the kick with a kunai in my hand, blinking sleep away, cradling my bruised ribs.

"He's here, you idiot!" Sakura shouted all too close to my auditory apparatus.

"Yeah, yeah," I edged away from the pink-haired menace, looking at the silver-haired and tall man in the mask who would have to suffer us for a few hours each day. Not many, if he was this late to every appointed meeting, I sniffed in derision as I noted the time.

"My first impression," the impassive jounin said, "I don't like you at all. Now meet me on the roof in five minutes," he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, the familiar Body Flicker jutsu.

Sasuke hurried out the door, with Sakura on his heels, and I briefly considered copying the jounin. There was no rush, however, so I just jumped out the window and walked sideways up the wall, using a variation of the tree-walking chakra control exercise to stick to the stone. Not surprisingly, I was the first one there, and I settled in wordlessly to wait. The fact that I'd actually managed to nap was remarkable, I was normally so full of energy I almost vibrated constantly. It just went to show how much power all those hundreds of clones took out of me.

I didn't have much time to ponder the issue, as Sasuke and Sakura joined us on the roof and sat down before our belatedly arrived new jounin-sensei. I briefly wondered why he only had one eye showing and what he was hiding behind the mask that covered most of his face, before deciding that there was no need to probe or investigate personally. My clones would let me know sooner or later. I had every intention of profiling everyone of note in Konoha, and the person they chose to train and supervise the Last Uchiha and the container of the demon fox had to be important.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence, before he rose to his feet and said, "Okay, it's time to start with introductions."

"What do you want to know?" Sakura inquired, brow furrowing in deep thought. It was telling the the kunoichi of the year didn't even understand what an introduction meant.

"How about your likes, dislikes, dreams of the future. Hobbies and stuff like that," he waved his hands.

"Why don't you start and show us how it's done?" Sakura suggested, nibbling on her lower lip in a rather fetching manner. She might have been as flat as a board, but she had a rather pretty face.

"Oh, me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future...? Well, I have a lot of hobbies. Now it's your turn, from the right," he pointed at me.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like discretion and I dislike many things. When I dream about the future, well, I always forget when I wake up. My hobby is pranking ANBU," I added after a bit of thought.

"Next," Kakashi pointed at Sasuke when the silence stretched.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike, and I don't really like anything. As for my dream… I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

Sakura's dreamy face at the utterance was almost enough to make me laugh out loud. Perhaps the purpose of Kakashi's mask was to avoid having people read his expressions.

"Okay. And finally, the girl."

"I'm Sakura Haruno. The thing I like is… well the person…," her eyes slid over to Sasuke. "Should I say my dream for the future?" her cheeks reddened. "Yatta! I dislike Ino-pig! My hobby is…"

"Okay, that's enough of that. We will start our duties tomorrow. First, we are going to do something with just the four of us. A survival exercise."

"Why is training our duty?" Sasuke inquired, and Sakura's voice rose, "We did enough of that in the academy!"

"I'm your opponent, and this isn't normal training," he gave a laugh.

"What's so funny, sensei?" Sakura asked, looking pissed.

"Your reactions will be. You see, out of twenty seven graduates, only nine will be chosen as genin. This training is very difficult, and the failure rate of the exam is two thirds."

Okay, he was right, their reactions were pretty funny. The real question was, did I want to pass the exam? Our would-be sensei seemed lazy, untrustworthy, had no respect for us… did I really want to be stuck with him? And the two annoying idiots? On the other hand, was there a real possibility of him not passing the team with the Last Uchiha?

"I was right. Anyway, see you tomorrow in training field seven at eight. Here, see this printout," he handed us a page. "Bring all your shinobi tools. Oh, and you might want to skip breakfast or you'll throw up."

Of course, and he'll actually be there on time, I managed to contain a sneer. The first thing I learned from my sensei was never to trust him. Waiting for the two not-yet-genin to leave after he flickered away, I considered what to do with the remainder of my day. I'd already planned on what to train tonight, and physical training would wait for tomorrow and the seals. My promise to the Hokage meant no more pranking, which didn't seem fair to me, or even particularly smart. My pranks, after all, served to point out holes in security. And they were funny as hell!

Oh well. What to do? Food first, I decided, flickering to a popular Akimichi all-you-can-eat restaurant that actually allowed me in, and tucking in. Hell, they didn't even overcharge me! The food was great, too, it was the one thing the Akimichi were very serious about. I shoveled in food by the plate and finally decided to go through the loot my band of thieves had gathered over the night.

I live in a five story building in a not very prosperous area of town. The entire place was dilapidated, and hot water and electricity were frequently issues. Which made me think of another use for clones - learning everything about construction, and for that matter, every other job in existence. How to make clothes, shoes, weapons, armor and ninja tools. Even jewelry and cutlery and everything. With a small army of clones, I could be completely self sufficient, and even make a lot of money - I no longer needed to be a ninja to support myself. With my true transformation jutsu, leaving Konoha and remaining hidden wouldn't even be difficult.

No, I quickly decided, or at least not until I learned everything I could from this horrible place. There was no doubt that I also needed experience with fighting, and maybe this Kakashi would teach us something useful. There was really no rush. Well, not about leaving Konoha, anyway. Learning how to fix the building, since I was the only resident, was important. Hell, I decided to buy it, it was probably really cheap. The spies tonight would learn who to approach and everything about him, and the next night he'd be 'convinced' to sell. Then I'd have a real home and not have to worry about hiding the stuff in the basement.

Speaking of the basement, the clones had arranged everything in excellent order. Rows of weapons and ninja tools, sealing supplies, raw materials, food, boxes of money with tacked on notes with numbers that made me stagger back in momentary shock, piles of books and scrolls organized by subject. Damn, the people who didn't like me were losing a lot of money, I thought with a smile silent praise for my hard-working clones.

There was ninjutsu, taijutsu, medical, genjutsu, fuuinjutsu, general knowledge, history, geography, science, kenjutsu, crafts, ahem… seduction?

It was a very small pile, even smaller than my fuuinjutsu section, but very intriguing. I started going through it, reading and skimming, and suddenly bent over with a croak coming from my empty, empty belly. Kami, I'd just spent eight hours reading! Hurriedly unleashing a handful of clones to prepare for the impending destruction of the hunger pangs, I packed the reading material away with wary respect.

In the academy, they'd tossed me out of class before discussing sexuality and procreation. I'd read all about it, of course, in the war-time manuals I'd liberated (so much more useful than the steaming pile of crap the current academy used), but it seemed gross and not really interesting. I now understood so much more, if not quite enough. At almost thirteen, I apparently had powerful sexual urges, but training every day to physical and chakra exhaustion suppressed them during the day and night, and in the morning, the cold shower made it go away. Remembering how I'd noticed the annoying and loud Sakura as cute and pretty made me sure that the books were right about my situation.

Of course, that was barely worth mentioning. Seduction was a complete ninja specialization all on its own, a common companion to infiltration and spying. You could make a strong man or a determined woman do anything and everything for you, betray all their principles and even literally kill their friends with seduction. You could twist minds and break spirits, create addicted slaves and slavish devotees. The right look, dress, scent, way of moving - how to touch and caress, how to speak, reading a person's innermost desires, pressure points that brought agony or ecstasy, the care and keeping of a lover or a harem… in its own way, it was as powerful as any speciality. And yes, I was definitely going to master it.

Much like Sasuke, I was probably the last of my clan, and I'd long desired to bring it back to life as something powerful. Having a caring family was a dream of mine, but I had no idea of the mechanics of it. Now I was researching the law, working on gaining more money and a home I owned, and here was the solution to women. If I mastered this, I could have any girl, probably as many girls as I could handle… and with the clones, I could 'handle' thousands, I snickered loudly.

There was also the issue of defense against others using their wiles against me. I had an enormous advantage in my ginormous chakra reserves, it would be difficult to affect me, and my own 'lust aura' could overwhelm almost anyone. And here the food was finished, and I'd barely managed to taste it. Looking outside, I saw that night had fallen, and popped a clone to call the legion in, settling down to seiza and meditation. A few minutes later, great gobs of memories began their assault on my mind. In the middle of it, I had to run to the bathroom and throw up. Never do this again just after a big meal!

Wiping my face clean, I nodded at the mirror, very pleased with the progress. My calligraphy was good enough for basic seals, the first exercises of fire and earth were close to done. My accuracy and dodging were much improved, and I knew what I wanted to continue with from the scroll. Moreover, my spies had learned so very much. They'd even found a hidden abandoned laboratory - one with deadly traps still active and lying in wait.

Flickering to the edge of the forest, I began to conjure small groups of overcharged shadow clones. The first five groups dedicated to elemental chakra, as usual. For fire and earth, I added a couple of basic jutsus to master once the first exercise was complete. For lightning, air and water, it was time for the intermediate exercise as well as the planned jutsus. Mastering an element made learning the jutsus much easier, so it was more efficient to focus on that. Four groups were for sealing, dedicated to the gravity seal, the resistance seal, storage scrolls and explosive notes. It was probably overkill for the first two, but since I was actually going to use both on myself, I wasn't willing to take risks. One group was to study seduction, specifically the pressure points and how to resist them. They immediately turned into girls, which was just fine with me - in fact, an excellent idea. Five groups were to continue working on the great clone explosion and the pulse step techniques, which while wasteful of clones, sounded great for battle. Five more were to play with ninja tools and traps, another five would do awareness training, and the last five were for chakra control.

I flickered back and started eating again, much more slowly this time. In small groups, I created another four hundred clones. Half would check out the hidden base, the rest would continue spying, stealing and investigating. There was a group of hidden ninja in Konoha named Root, apparently, and I was going to find out everything about them - if slowly and carefully. Planning out the orders for tomorrow's legion, I left my apartment for a neighboring one with a bath, since a cold shower before sleeping was not really my thing. Picking the lock was routine, and heating the water was my first real exercise of elemental power in a useful fashion. Or not! Ouch, but that water was boiling. Exercising some water control, I pulled out the plug, if just a bit too violently. Fortunately, it didn't explode or anything, and the second bath was nice and warm. Keeping it warm, and most especially not boiling it, was a very good exercise in control of fire aspected chakra. It required enough concentration that I had to finalize the plan for tomorrow on the way back and while preparing for bed.

I bit my tongue in consideration, and finally just did it. As my clone joined me in bed, we kissed, our breasts flattening against each other. It was a while before I actually went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to soft warmth. Blinking my eyes open, I pinched my thigh to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. The movement was enough to alert the gorgeous, naked young blonde girl lying in my arms, her long, silky smooth hair brushing against my face as she turned, large round breasts squishing against mine. Oh, right. The kissing, and touching, and licking, and… I blushed as the memories surfaced.

"Relax, boss," she smiled at me, a glorious vision and a sharp reminder of how seductive I could be in female form. "There's no need to be embarrassed about anything between you, and you know, you!" her sharp foxy grin elicited a return one from me, and her inarguable logic had me relaxing and nodding.

"You know, we never did get that Kiss of Submission thing right," I leaned my head forward closer to her and whispered. Her lips touched mine and we deepened the kiss, experimenting with plain old making out rather than chakra techniques. When the alarm clock, set to eight, rang, I whipped out a few shadow clones without breaking our clinch, and we got more serious. The books had provided a rather thorough education, and yesterday's experimentation had been very, very nice. This was obviously a subject I wanted to investigate, very deeply too.

We were relaxing in each other's arms, touching softly and stealing small kisses as our breath settled. It was with the utmost reluctance that I asked, "Shower?"

Being late would be more than worth it.

There was barely time to eat, recall the clones and conjure a new legion. I could now make exploding clones reliably, elemental training was going very well, as was chakra control. Pulse step experimentation was advancing in the right direction, and the seal-work had gone much better than expected, it really did come easily to me. The pressure point thing wasn't working out all that well, the clones flooding each other with painful spikes of chakra. Obviously something I'd have to revisit in a month or two after a lot more control training. With that, I popped out the usual twenty five elemental teams and ten chakra control groups.

The first real gem of the night was the tool group - awareness training had involved way too much blundering around. Recalling something from the books about puppetry and the chakra threads that controlled them, my clones had tried to use them to direct kunai and shuriken around. At first, instead of threads, chakra chains came out, solid blue physical constructs of raw chakra. Testing them out showed them to be seemingly indestructible, and absolutely deadly lethal weapons. The second gem was the realization that came about once I mastered storage seals and played about with them a bit. The forbidden scroll contained many crazy techniques and seals. One of the is the shadow clone, another is the blood clone. Shadow clones would make me personally formidable, a one man army. Blood clones? They embodied the potential for utter dominion. They were almost as powerful as the percentage of the original's blood they received, and with a blood storage seal, I could easily siphon away five percent of my blood a day. One perfect replica with ninety percent of my abilities, not counting the Kyuubi slumbering in my stomach. A clone who could make shadow clones. A clone who might be able to subsist on food and regain its own chakra - if not, perhaps I could find another way for it to regain chakra and sustain itself. And receive and transfer memories.

Emperor Naruto Uzumaki of the Elemental Lands suddenly began to seem like a real possibility. Combined with the crazy-brilliant Nidaime's soul binding seals, it might be a path to immortality in my own created bodies. When you added the Hiraishin, another jutsu originally developed by the Nidaime and only put to use by my father, the possibility of instant transport of goods in sealing scrolls and a network of merchants allowed for utter economic domination by this emperor. A pity there were no notes about the Rasengan, which the stories of the Yondaime also linked with his power. Still, it would be possible to recreate it, after all it was just a ball of spiralling chakra. Without shadow clones, trying would probably be suicidal for anyone who didn't have perfect regeneration - like, say, an Uzumaki-blooded jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. With shadow clones, I was sure to have it perfected and vastly improved upon in a year or two.

I dedicated just one group to playing around with chakra chains, and another four for more awareness training. Developing sensor abilities could save my life. The other ten groups were to go through all the knowledge I had, all the possibilities, and hash out a training schedule for a full month. The haphazard way I was going about it worked well, but organized medium term calculation would be better. Besides, it felt like I was spending half my time plotting out how the clones would train next, and soon my time would be taken up by physical exercise.

The laboratory my spies had found yesterday was the stuff of nightmares, one of Orochimaru's hideouts. It also contained the last gem of the night. One of several experiments there was a loyalty seal, and I was pretty sure I could adapt it to work with seduction techniques. According to the books, an orgasming woman always fell in love, if only for a fraction of a second. If I could seal in that emotion, on top of mastering seduction techniques, I could revive the old law concerning battle captives, something which hadn't ever really been used. The idea had been that bound enemy kunoichi could be used to breed a new generation of ninja for Konoha. Another frightful technique was bloodline stealing. If I could get a bloodline sharing technique to work, I could have genuine Uzumakis in my clan, and all of us with as many bloodlines as I could get. Getting Hinata onboard was suddenly not just a matter of sympathy for a nice girl, though it would require Tsunade level medical mastery in addition to a truly extraordinary level of expertise with seals.

That Nidaime was one cold-blooded bastard. Still, it was all something to work on. No one in Konoha really cared for me, though many were concerned, possibly overly concerned, with me and about me and what I contained. The council records were all too clear, and there would be no mercy.

In a sudden grim mood, I poured out enough chakra for the day's eight hundred spies and thieves, then added another twenty to make the hidden lab safe and clean for my future experiment in fuuinjutsu, and eventually medical jutsu. Sighing at my sudden weakness, I made another hundred clones, setting them to learn all about construction, wiring and plumbing. Another ten minutes of speed-eating and I sealed away a couple of trays of hot food and a pair of history books. I was only two hours late, Kakashi was usually three. Well, just the once, but it sure seemed intentional and symptomatic. If we failed? I couldn't care less. Another year in the academy sounded much better than the alternative company. Not having to waste time on missions would give me more time to plot, plan and train.

"You're LATE!" Sakura shouted at me and stepped closer, swinging her fist in frothing rage. She didn't even see me move around her, find a nice spot to sit down, and chuckle softly as she picked herself up from the ground.

"Sakura," I said softly, "since Kakashi has yet to arrive, I am obviously not late. Oh, and if you ever attack me again, I'll break a few of your bones and drop you off at the hospital," I added before opening my book. It seemed interesting, an account of the Second Shinobi War from one of the participants, a Konoha shinobi named Sai Maito. As he'd also survived the first war, he included a comparison and analysis of tactics and strategy and their development between the two wars, specifically mentioning all the five great villages and several of the lesser ones, many of which I'd never even heard of before. I found it riveting, and was reluctant to seal it back away when a dispersing shadow clone informed me that Kakashi had arrived.

"You're LATE!" Sakura shouted, as per the usual.

His incoherent excuse left me shaking my head in wonder. "Kakashi, are Konoha's jounin regularly checked for mental instability?" I had to ask.

"Ha ha, you're cute. Now then," he placed an alarm clock on a stump, "this is set for noon. Your mission is to take these two bells from me before noon. Those who cannot get the bells by noon will get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of these stumps, I'll also eat right in front of you." I could tell that he was smiling, even behind the mask his posture was unmistakable. The sound of my teammates' empty stomachs rumbling was surprisingly loud.

"You only need to get one bell," he added. "There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. Oh, and the person who doesn't get a bell fails, so at least one of you will be sent back to the academy. So you need to be serious about it, you won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."

"But you'll be in danger!" Sakura protested, and I managed not to nod agreement. If I tried to kill him, it would with dozens of exploding clones using pulse step. Even hiding underground wouldn't help him, unless he left the area. Not that I actually needed to try and kill him to get a bell.

"No need to worry, I am a jounin," he answered lazily, he picked a pornographic novel out of his pouch and started reading. "Well?" he asked without looking up. "Time is passing, you know."

Sakura and Sasuke quickly moved out of sight, while I relaxed and got back to my book. My hidden clones would alert me to any danger, and if necessary replace me.

"You're not going to hide?" Kakashi said with evident disinterest, his face buried in the book.

"If I take a bell now, you'll just take it back before noon. I'm in no rush. Besides, it's a really good book, I don't want to stop here," I answered. "You can always come to me. After all, I only had three hours to set traps. I just love my traps," I sang softly and off key, "almost as much as ANBU hates them, he he."

From the set of his shoulders, I'm pretty sure he bought my bluff, not that is mattered all that much. I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the test, just reading for the remainder of the hour, only pausing to jump slightly in place and look around when Sakura screamed piercingly.

The bell rang eventually, and a few minutes later Kakashi dragged the two from the woods. Sakura looked like she'd rolled around on the ground, and Sasuke was somewhat roughed up.

"I thought you were going to get a bell?" Kakashi mocked me.

"Nah, I thought about it. Then I remembered who I was dealing with. There was no chance these two would get a bell, even combined they don't have a working brain. So I just, you know…," I shrugged and took them out of a pocket, "got both bells." I swung them around, enjoying the chiming sound, and tossed one each to Sasuke and Sakura. Leaving a finger marking my page in the book, I turned and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi demanded in a weird tone of voice.

"You said the one without a bell goes back to the academy, right?" I was getting bored with his nonsense.

"But you got both bells," he rebutted.

"Well, that was then. Now they have the bells, so I'm gone. Have a fun team!" I turned back to leave.

"You pass!" Kakashi announced loudly. Kami, what a drama queen.

"So you lied, as usual?" I frowned at him.

"What do you mean, as usual?" he was probably frowning right back at me, but with the mask, it was just a guess.

"You've lied about almost everything so far," I noted. "What you've taught us thus far is never to trust you. Is this just another lie? Because, you know, I'm getting a bit bored."

"How the hell did you get the bells?" Sakura shouted. "You're the dead last, Sasuke should have gotten the bells. You cheater!"

"Thank you for the compliment, Sakura," I nodded graciously.

"Hn," Sasuke shot me a dark look.

"That wasn't a compliment, loser!" she shouted yet again. Does she have an off switch, I wondered idly.

"Any ninja worthy of the name would take it as one," Kakashi interjected. "Shinobi fight to win, not by any rules. Cheating is expected and condoned. How did you get the bells, anyway?" he seemed honestly curious, which left me flabbergasted.

"You're familiar with the academy three?" I asked. He nodded and gestured for me to carry on. "The replacement technique? I just exchanged the bells for shadow clones in the right shape."

"But you never used the jutsu in my sight," he protested.

I swapped with him, wordlessly and without a sign. "Good enough?"

"You've mastered replacement," his one visible eye went wide.

"It's not like there was much else to practice in the academy," I quietly noted. "Anyway, now what?"

Kakashi went off on all of us, 'explaining' that the purpose of the exam was to promote teamwork to achieve a mission one of us could not accomplish alone. Utter nonsense, since the exam promoted dissension rather than teamwork - no fresh team of rookie genin would pass something like this, suitable for testing seasoned genin for readiness to advance to chunin status. There was also the little fact that I'd managed it easily enough on my own. Look beneath the underneath, indeed, what a steaming pile of fresh droppings. Then he laid a guilt trip on us using the memorial. What a sad, sad man. At least we were dismissed with orders to report to the same training ground the next day - at eight, naturally. I mentally adjusted that upwards by three hours and ten minutes, ignoring the rather painful sight of Sakura trying to ask Sasuke out for a date.

When they were out of sight I flickered home, lying down in boxers as clones draw seals on my body in special sealing ink anointed in my blood. And almost squashed myself flat putting way too much chakra into the gravity seal, damnation. One day I'll have perfect chakra control, one day! Then we'll see who's laughing! Stupid clones.


	4. Chapter 4

There was a problem. The stupid blood siphoning seal itched and tickled like mad. After an hour of physical training I just couldn't take it anymore and flickered home to remove it. Kami, but what a relief it was to do without it! The night's legion would definitely have to work on a better version, and by Kami test it on someone other than me! A pig would do.

A quick cold shower, and I was back outside, running rather slowly around Konoha. Ten laps took me over two hours, even channeling chakra to my limbs - though not using my secret speed technique, that wouldn't help with developing actual body speed and stamina, it was more of a cheat. There was a very good reason my father was infamous as the fastest shinobi ever, edging out even the current Yondaime Raikage and his lightning armor technique.

After a large meal, I took a rather delightful bath in female form with clone company. Beyond the raw pleasure, I was still getting used to touching someone and having someone touch me in return, someone who I knew with absolute certainty loved me with all their heart. It was pathetic really, I started crying on her shoulder when we were done, and instead of comforting me, she joined me in sobbing for a good ten minutes. It was nicely cathartic, but it also made me realize that I needed real human contact and the acknowledgement of at least a few people if I didn't want to go bonkers early. Unfortunately, the only female I spent any time with who was willing to talk to me was Sakura, and she wasn't an ideal candidate. Although… she was my friend once, before her mother turned her against me. She's a very lonely girl, and vulnerable. If I mastered at least a few seduction techniques, and used them against her when she was feeling in the dumps… like for example, when Sasuke put her down in a particularly brutal fashion, which was likely to happen rather soon as his rather limited store of patience ran out… I could have her, and it shouldn't even be difficult. As a kunoichi, she was accounted of age, so she could simply move in. That would be a really good revenge against her mother. If she proved loyal, I'd even start training her, though it would be a long time before she'd be any use in sparring.

I didn't really like it, but it was a good idea. It was even good for Sakura. Certainly, it would break her away from her fangirlish ways, and it would start her training and eating properly - I still remember how she and that crazy overbearing Ino girl were always talking about dieting, how stupid - this plan would likely save her life if it worked. And with me, she'd never be lonely, a good deal all around. While she'd achieved her academy rank almost entirely on academics, and mostly useless academics at that given the peacetime curriculum, I was pretty sure she had potential. If not, I'd convince her to apply for training as a non-combat medic-nin, definitely saving her life.

Done with the bath and feeling a bit more energetic, I summoned up five supercharged clones to work on seduction skills. I needed more skill and fast if I was to reel the girl in. Now wanting to look and get my blood heated, I headed to the apartment I'd revamped as a training room and worked on weights for a couple of hours, then enjoyed a chakra-enhanced massage from a couple of clones and another large meal. Another two hours of running, half an hour's break for shower and food - I was tired enough not to feel any real passion - and then another weight session, half an hour of massage and food, and one last run for the day. Even running myself to the ground like this, I could feel the weight and air resistance diminishing, though I was aware that it was actually my body improving. It was surreal, how powerful my regeneration was. In ten hours of exhausting exercise, I'd probably done more for myself than most shinobi could accomplish in a month of intense training.

Which reminded me that I needed to add acrobatic and flexibility training, perhaps a practical dodging exercise and some clone sparring. It was getting late and I was actually exhausted, but I knew that I needed a lot of energy if I wanted to summon a clone legion for the night's work, so I forced myself to eat and took a brief nap, having a clone ready to wake me - the one who cuddled up against me in bed. Never sleeping alone was a habit I could get used to.

I woke up to an ardent kiss and a pair of warm, moist lips sucking hungrily on my nipples. It got wilder from there, five Naruto girls wrestling in the nude. I very much needed a larger bed, another thing I'd have to learn how to make. They probably didn't have beds large enough for what I had in mind.

After I cleaned up, with company, and ate, I began absorbing memories. Reviewing the work sheets the clones prepared for the next month, I made a few corrections. In the main, they'd done excellent work, quite naturally. Increasing the training legion to three thousand, they put in five hundred clones day and night for skill training, e.g. construction or tailoring, and five hundred for spying. There was a reminder to send a clone to the owner of the building tonight, and I added a reminder to fix the blood-siphoning seal. Nice work, I nodded thoughtfully as I saw that a steadily growing group was dedicated to memory transfer, one that would work without the clone dispersing. It would vastly increase the efficiency of the training, as each clone who had any success or the most minor advancement, insight or idea could have everyone benefit from it immediately instead of the next session. At a guess, it might well quintuple the productivity of the training legion and the professional legion if not more, and it was also very useful for the spies and thieves.

Eventually, I planned on make clone battle-squads, and it would be incredibly useful there as well, and hopefully it would also work for blood clones, assuming that idea panned out. Another important note drew attention to the chakra shield technique the Hyuuga had insisted on naming kinjutsu and confining to the forbidden scroll, which would do a lot to mitigate the one-hit one-kill drawback of shadow clones. Definitely a priority for combat efficiency, but kinetic dissipation and elemental and chakra absorption and reflection seals would work just as well, if not better. Combined, I had no idea how anything less than a large army could even delay me a couple of years from now. Even Kage-level shinobi had limits and could be swamped.

I penciled in another five hundred clones for daily and nightly seduction training, deciding that I would eventually try it all. Being a girl was really nice, and girls were designed for penetration. Even if I wasn't physically attracted to my male self, it was something I should experience. If nothing else, there was no reason a female-shaped shadow clone couldn't have something extra down there. I also added a note to see if I could increase the number of clones every week or so. I was exercising my chakra quite ferociously, and my already kage-plus level reserves were growing… which naturally meant that chakra control would be even more difficult. Everything had a price.

Conjuring everything left me nearly wiped out. A clone flickered with me to bed, and I was out like a light.

It was official. D-rank missions were a drag. Hunting down the Daimyo's wife devil cat took over three hours, mostly because I didn't want to flaunt my shadow clones. Or, quite honestly, waste that much chakra for such a trivial reason. Seeing why the cat ran for its life was quite hilariously satisfying, however. Sasuke was being very hostile and very obvious about it, Sakura naturally taking her cues from him. That was another reason not to showcase my talents, I didn't want to waste my time sparring with the rookie of the year. Honestly, he wasn't worth my time. Oh, his taijutsu was better than mine, he probably had better skill with ninja tools, and his fire jutsus were superior to mine - but for all that, he was too slow and weak to be interesting.

His taijutsu was better because I had no one who would teach me or spar with me in the academy, and before I had my clones practice it, I needed to find a style or three that would suit me. I would surpass his skill with tools and the element of fire in a week, at the very most. He was very skilled for a genin, but he had nothing that could help me improve other than providing someone to spar with and test myself, and he simply wasn't good enough to do it well. More than that, his ego was such that a defeat would simply make him more annoying rather than less, or so I suspected. I wasn't even jealous that he had the absolute favor of the civilians and a legion of fangirls, or at least not very much. Sasuke was obviously a deeply unhappy person who seemed to wallow in his own misery and hatred, and I wanted no part of that.

Amusingly enough, he was more interested in me than the other way around, but genius was something he couldn't readily copy, even had he awakened his Sharingan, the copy-wheel eye bloodline which made the Uchiha justifiably infamous. The less raw power, skill and ability I showed around him, the better off I'd be, or he wouldn't leave me alone. Which reminded me of the need to study security seals and workarounds for them. Having no choice but to be patient was just so incredibly frustrating.

Clone-sex was a really good way to blow of the steam. After a shower and a meal, I upped the weight of the gravity and resistance seals, and repeated yesterday's ten hours of torture, falling asleep exhausted to the bone. I was careful only to have the gravity seal active when actually training, knowing that even with regeneration overusing it could damage my body and stunt my growth. Eating as well as I did and working out so rigorously, I was only a bit shorter than Chouji, definitely the largest genin of our age-group, and my shoulders were almost as broad.

The next day Kakashi actually decided to offer us some training - in remarkably silly team exercises that were supposed to improve our teamwork. Of course the idiot wouldn't even try to work on the underlying reasons we did not, and weren't going to, work well together. So much for seeing the underneath, let alone beneath that layer.

Of course, since he was so late, we drew a particularly unpleasant D-rank, four hours of pure suffering I don't even want to think about. When we were done, I approached him, "Yo, Kakashi, as you probably know, I'm an orphan and I can always use more money. The bastard civilians are always overcharging me, they call it a demon tax, that's when they even allow me to enter the store," yes, the sob story did have a point to it. "Is there any chance I can do more D-rank missions on my own time? With shadow clones, I can finish them up real quick."

"Why aren't you using shadow clones to help with team missions?" he retorted.

"Well, if I complete the mission with shadow clones, it's not really a team mission at all, is it now?" I asked innocently. "I thought the purpose of D-ranks was to practice teamwork," I threw his tiresome mantra right back at him.

"Hmph," he breathed out, reminiscent of Sasuke. "Very well, you have my permission," he turned to leave.

"Wait, Kakashi! That's not going to be good enough for the mission desk, you know that. Here's the note I want you to sign," it really was worded innocently and he signed all three copies, keeping one for himself.

"Why three copies rather than two?" Kakashi inquired.

"It's a bureaucratic procedure. Who ever heard of a form not filed in triplicate?" I looked at him wide-eyed. "Ahem," I moued in mock sadness when my attempt at humor failed spectacularly, "one for each of us and one to file with the mission desk, I keep one in case they mysteriously 'lose it', you know."

And so my nefarious plan was put into practice. I marched into the mission desk with my minions behind me in groups of ten, smirking at the stares, and presented the permission slip for filing.

"Genin Uzumaki requesting ten D-rank missions," I picked ten easy ones from the list, handed the papers to the ten teams of ten, and ran off to practice avoiding becoming a pincushion with increased gravity and resistance seals. An hour later I was back in the mission desk, asking for another ten, after presenting the signed mission scrolls for payment. Quite deliberately, I left exactly one unpleasant mission for each active genin team. Since we would come in last, we'd be chasing Tora again. Just for the fun of it, I had my clones catch the cat and hide her at the hidden lab. The Naruto with team seven today would be a clone and the joke would be on them. Since I'd learned the chakra shield jutsu, if not quite mastered it yet, I was a lot more sanguine about having it impersonate me. More than that, I was happy because for once, the night's awareness exercises had gotten positive results. Eventually, I hoped to be a capable chakra sensor, developing that potential was worth a lot of investment.

Oh well, no team-play, so I had the entire day for grueling, tortuous physical training. What fun.

Most of all, I was happy because of information I'd found. Legally, it turned out that Hinata's problem had a solution. The Shodaime Hokage granted clans a lot of leeway in his efforts to coax them into joining Konoha, but he drew the line at actual slavery of clan members. It was probably meant to be cosmetic, but it was nonetheless a binding law of Konoha. Any member of the Hyuuga clan could renounce the clan and be immediately disowned, as long as they bore or accepted the caged bird seal and never bore children. The law was quite clear, and I had a simple way around it, since it didn't prevent Hinata from getting pregnant or children of hers from being born, nor did it force the former-Hyuuga to keep bearing the slave seal. In practice, all I had to do was transfer her unborn child to another woman to bear, and undo her seal. Not easy by any means, but little worth doing ever is.


	5. Chapter 5

Now that I owned the building and actually knew stuff about fixing it, I sent a small team of clones to see what could be done. After I learned carpentry and how to make a bed, curtains, blankets, pillows and such, things would start looking up. Maybe some art too, painting or sculptures and things like that. I also set a team to working on the caged bird seal of the Hyuuga, since I'd much rather offer Hinata a certainty than a hope. It was shocking how little security the Hyuugas had on their library of advanced scrolls, and showed how truly arrogant they were. Admittedly, getting past the Byakugan's incredible visual ability was difficult, but once you managed it, it was easily repeatable. Buying your own reputation for invincibility was just asking for it.

This was also going to be the Sakura mission day, as tomorrow was our day off, so I decided to take the time to throw away the orange jumpsuit and wear something more discreet and professional looking. Eventually I planned to have special armored clothing with integrated sealwork, but that was probably a month or so away.

The clones I'd sent to procure clothes had been quite devious, and bought several outfits that made me seem like a virtual clone of Minato Namikaze, dear old dad, the Fourth Hokage. Ha, and with Kakashi being his student… yeah, it was just irresistible. Looking at the mirror, having experienced sexual penetration as a girl - and enjoyed it very much - I had to admit that I looked really good. Objectively, I was possibly on par with Sasuke. Kami, but he'd make a really hot girl, I smirked at the mirror for a moment. Was there a medical procedure or a seal that might accomplish that? Actually, I already had a technique for changing shape. I started laughing out loud at the idea of turning fangirl-magnet female.

As usual, I spent most of the morning on heavy physical training, showered, ate and showed up on training ground seven a few minutes before Kakashi got there. Just like yesterday, I made sure only the nastiest three missions remained, and wondered briefly which one the others had kindly left for us. I was betting we'd get to hunt down the giant rat nest in the sewers, but the others were also possible. Despite the prospect, I was whistling cheerfully. Sealwork and elemental training were going marvelously well, so much so that I might be able to start on elemental combination jutsus a full week before the timeline. There was also the little fact that I had scented nose-plugs and heavy-duty gloves sealed away among my ninja supplies, ha ha.

The clones had figured out a way to bypass some of security seals, or at least had several ideas on possibilities that showed real promise. Next week I was definitely getting into some of the good stuff, the secret archives and libraries of powerful techniques. I'd infiltrated just about all the clans, excepting only the Aburame, but learned surprisingly little. Oh, the Kurama had some genjutsu that sounded really frightening, what the Yamanaka could do to a person's mind was outright horrifying, and the Akimichi and Inuzuka were powerful combatants, but there was little there for me to copy that was useful, as all such arts relied on abilities I lacked, or a companion in the case of the Inuzuka. I avoided the Aburame for obvious reasons - my clones usually managed to gain entry in insect form, and that clan compound was full of chakra sensing insects. There were many small old clans, but the Sarutobi and Senju compounds had some serious defenses I was not ready to face, as befit the homes of current and former Hokages. Even the Nara has some nasty and really well concealed traps that I preferred not to test. For others, I was content to wait, there was already too much to study, easily enough for a couple of years.

Speaking of training, I really hoped that the secure archives held a few good taijutsu and kenjutsu styles, since I'd scheduled the start of intense training for those two fields somewhere towards the end of next week. Shadow clones, after all, also transferred muscle memory, as I'd already demonstrated by vastly improving my abilities with ninja tools, skill at dodging and general acrobatics. Flexibility, however, was something I still had to work on, and I'd never be as good as someone like Hinata, some of the things I'd seen her do were just incredible. And yes, of course I was spying on her, and my teammates, and Kakashi as well, and so on and so forth. People who interacted with me mattered, so they were under surveillance. Kakashi was particularly tricky to follow around, but I'd managed it so far, only losing him a few times - sowing clones in immobile forms around the village soon helped track down his whereabouts on such occasions, and his habits made him rather predictable.

"Naruto, you idiot, you're late! Naruto…?" that last word came out much more softly as Sakura's large green eyes widened comically.

"You like?" I twirled around and grinned foxily at the stunned girl, and the gaping Kakashi. "See, I always had trouble getting clothes, but Kakashi let me take some extra missions, so I actually have some money. I decided to celebrate by getting new duds. So, what do you guys think?" I beamed at them, or rather, their reaction.

"Much better," Sasuke replied laconically, with his usual affected disinterest.

"Ah, yes, Sasuke-kun's right," Sakura nodded emphatically, "Much better! You actually look good, like a really ninja or someone who matters."

Well, that certainly clarified her opinion of me, I had to bite my tongue to keep down an acidic response that begged to be uttered. In her silly dress, no one would see her as anything other than a little girl in pink.

Kakashi was no longer gaping like a fish, and was slowly regaining control of his emotions. A bit hoarsely, he just said, "Come on, let's pick up a mission."

I made sure to walk at the front of our little group, and the silence and the way people were staring at me, for once without hatred in their eyes, was truly gratifying. Old man Hokage had something coming to him, depriving me of my heritage the way he had. There was a reason I avoided him nowadays, and I'd never ever tell him the solution to handling his paperwork. Still, he was probably the only reason some bad things had never happened to me, the council protocols were clear, so he had something of a clean slate with me. I just… honestly didn't care that much about him, one way or the other, other than to be wary of the God of Shinobi. Old didn't mean dead, and even with clones, it would be many years before I could boast to be his equal in knowledge, let alone skill. He might well have forgotten more tricks than any ten jounin knew.

Iruka was all healed up and handling the mission desk, and handed Kakashi a mission scroll in absolute silence, staring wide-eyed at me. We walked out of the Hokage tower with barely a whisper of sound all around us, and it was clear that Sakura for one, was getting spooked. Even Sasuke was engaged, looking around at people and then back at me and Kakashi. All in all, it was hilarious.

"So what's the mission, Kakashi? Oooo, let me guess. Hunting rabid giant rats in the sewers!" I tried.

"Ahem," he actually had to look at the scroll again. "Not quite. That would probably be easier. What we have to do is…"

"Hey, would this be a bad time to just hand in my forehead protector? I mean, worse than hunting rabid giant rats in the sewers?"

"Babies, it's babies. You have to take care of a dozen babies until nightfall. You know, Naruto, this might just be a good time to make use of your shadow clones. There's teamwork and then there's real insanity," Kakashi recommended with some heat in his voice.

"Babies are worse than giant rats in the sewers?" Sasuke raised a brow, at his most expressive for once. "And what's this about you?" I had to ask. "Shouldn't that be we? Aren't you part of the team?"

"Oh, you'll see, I promise you'll see," he replied to Sasuke, completely ignoring my words. Not that he'd ever actually contributed anything to any of our 'missions'.

With that ominous warning from Kakashi, we went off to see.

Only three of the mothers were waiting for us at the rather nice house. Ordinarily, I could expect a serious protest at leaving their darling little ones at the mercy of the demon, referring to me of course. It's amazing what a big different new clothes make. They eyed me carefully and were very polite, before leaving us to the mercy of the real demons. I actually caught two of the women looking back, just about undressing me with their eyes.

Sakura's squealing about how cute the little babies were ended on a rather different note when one of them pissed on her face, the stream of urine striking with shinobi-like precision. I just about died laughing. Then had to run ahead of her before I actually died. Kami, even Sasuke cracked a smile.

Of course, then the two of us had to deal with the lot of them while Sakura washed herself. Choosing the better part of valor, I obeyed my dis-respected jounin-sensei and used shadow clones. I was sure the horror of those memories coming back to me would be painful, but I didn't have enough hands and Sasuke was almost useless.

It went on for hours, and rather than reading a book, I used the time to practice my calisthenics, gravity and resistance seals on - with a few food breaks. My teammates were surprised when I unsealed a hot meal from a scroll, and I was generous enough to offer them one. Just one of my meals was more than enough for both of them - I had three over the seven hours we babysat. An hour and a half of eating in a relaxed fashion and five and half of ceaseless physical activity. Sakura actually looked impressed at my stamina, while Sasuke was predictably jealous. The pink haired girl also spent a suspicious amount of time looking at my bare upper body rather than pining away after Sasuke, turning away with a blush the couple of times I caught her at it. It was a good sign, and good planning. So much better than hunting rats, at least until the memories caught me. If only I'd managed to figure out how not to have the clones always deliver all their memories, if only they could edit…

On the other hand, considering that I wanted a large family and and had every intention of reviving an entire clan, getting used to taking care of babies was another one of those skills I needed to perfect. It was certainly better than regarding it as a trial. Which got me to wondering if highly developed sensory abilities and experience would allow me to predict what the eating and defecating machines needed before the wailing started. Together, the miserable lot was whinier and louder than Sakura in a snit.

"Say, Naruto," Kakashi was nice enough to assist my pushups by coming over and standing on my back, "Is training all you do?"

Which question made me wonder whether he was spying on me. Like the Hyuuga, I was getting careless, and resolved to add my own custom security seals and a cordon of defensive clones to the trap arrays.

"Well, what else is there to do, huh? Old man Hokage made me promise to stop the pranks when I got this," I did a couple of one-handed pushups while raising my fingers to touch the leaf-marked forehead protector.

"There's always reading," he held up his orange book.

"I read," I answered tersely. "In fact, it won't be long before I've read every book and magazine in the village. Shadow clones are very useful," I added to fill in the silence.

He seemed not to have an answer for that, and another two hundred pushups and the mothers started filing in. Their burning stares got Kakashi off my back, literally, and had me snatching up the shirt and coat and dressing at full-ninja-speed.

The remainder of the mission prep for operation Sakura went off perfectly. Once they checked the house and babies and signed the mission scroll, Kakashi vanished and I had Sakura distracted, having her clean up some baby-vomit traces from her sleeve. That was more than enough time for Sasuke to disappear, as he'd taken to quickly departing our company to avoid Sakura. The clone replacing him did its job with admirable perfection.

"Sasuke-kun, you waited for me! Want to go out and have dinner?" she asked, intruding into my clone's personal space.

"Imbecile," damn but my imitation was superb, just the right cutting tone. "Don't you realize that you have no chance of gaining my attention? I will rebuild my clan with a powerful kunoichi suitable to the needs of the mighty Uchiha. You? Calling you useless would be a compliment. It would mean that while you contributed nothing to the team, you can at least take care of yourself. Instead you're so weak that you're a burden. At least that idiot Naruto can carry his own weight. You're pathetic," he spat out and walked away proudly.

On cue, tears started leaking from her eyes as she trembled. I heard her whispering, "No, no, Sasuke-kun," and sob unintelligibly.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong Sakura?" I approached her and grabbed her in a hug, flickering back home as she sobbed into my chest. "Come on," I bent down and picked her up bridal-style, sitting down on my comfy couch and having her sit in my lap, legs spread around me and face still sticking to my chest with tears flowing.

"Come on, please don't cry," I whispered in her ear as I ran a hand through her hair and brought a warm washcloth up to clean her face. "Here, drink this," I gave her a cup of hot beverage with something extra in it. Not a drug, though I had considered that - I just wasn't good enough to make my own as of yet, and couldn't trust others enough to use what I'd picked up here and there. Just alcohol with plenty of kick added to sweet juice with a twist of lime. Hiccuping, she drained the cup, and then another, finally relaxing a bit.

"Feeling better? Now why don't you tell Naruto all your problems, huh teammate?" I rubbed her neck gently, letting some of my chakra leak before setting my other hand to trace circles on her back. It was so very different than one of my clones. Sakura was smaller and there was barely any feeling of soft breasts against me, and she also smelled different, a floral scent from her shampoo. "Sakura? Come on, talk to me."

"I don't know what to do," she said in a low voice. "He hates me!"

"Well, obviously. Think about how you and the other fangirls act. His family is all dead, murdered before him, and you simply do not let him be, stalking and jumping in his face with things that he doesn't think are relevant. I mean, if we were sixteen, I'd be more understanding, but we're not quite thirteen, even if we are counted as adults since we're genin now, real shinobi. Always in his face, an endless annoyance. Wouldn't you hate it too?" I asked. "All those fangirls are pretty creepy. Think about it, if you had a lot of young boys who simply wouldn't let you have any peace, always going on about you like you're not even there, and getting in your face constantly to ask for this and that and a date. How would you feel?" I caught her chin and raised her face, using the opportunity to whisk away my coat and shirt so fast that she didn't even catch the movement, the chakra wafting off my body in ever-increasing waves as I spoke, fingers touching just the right places with a gentle application of invasive chakra.

"Ahem, I…, I think..." she stuttered adorably, blushing beet-red and lowering her eyes. That's when I kissed her.


	6. Chapter 6

It really surprised me to learn that kissing is considered an art. Or rather, there's an art to kissing. I used to regard that claim with suspicion, since I read all about it after I first kissed and played around with my clone. The books actually had a lot of interesting instruction about it, and some really arcane medical and chakra techniques to go with it. I'd only gotten a single one to work - as usual, performing properly required chakra control, chakra control, chakra control, and you guessed it - more chakra control. I had a full thousand clones practicing that every night, with another five hundred working on the memory sharing and editing variations on the shadow clone jutsu. A simple matter of efficiency, as more control made learning much easier, or just possible, while the memory thing would make learning everything faster.

Anyway, the one trick I did learn convinced me utterly and completely - one of the arts of seduction is the kiss, the Kiss of Surrender. It's a really basic trick and easy to defend against if you're aware of it or are just about any sort of chakra sensor, but it's hellishly effective. It makes you swoon. It made me swoon, feel weak in the knees, and eager and hungry for more.

It made Sakura boil over, turn from a shy little embarrassed girl into a man-eating, demanding and highly aggressive woman. Running her hands all over me, moaning into my mouth, eyes closed as she tried to ram herself into or maybe through me. She didn't even react when I accidentally tore her dress, and shoved her tongue into my mouth when I ripped it apart deliberately. It shouldn't have surprised me, it really shouldn't have, but she hadn't bothered with a bra. Skin against hot skin, pebbly nipples dug into my flesh as we kissed again and again as I traced abstract patterns on her soft, smooth back - slightly annoyed at how bony she was.

She'd just started grinding her crotch against mine when a dispelling watch-clone passed on the memory of an ANBU operative approaching, very specifically coming over to fetch me. I cursed my idiocy in choosing to make that point through clothes on this day of all days. Of course the Hokage would summon me! At just this exact time, naturally.

There was simply no other choice. When we stopped kissing to breathe, I caught Sakura's chin before she attacked me again. "I'm so sorry, but the Hokage sent an ANBU to summon me. It's not something I can delay long enough," the shocked look on her face had me biting my inner cheek, rather hard, to avoid laughing at her - even I knew that was the absolute wrong thing to do.

"Don't worry though, they'll take good care of you," I looked behind her and switched with a clone in the room, quickly running off to change clothes to a quiet dark blue outfit that I didn't think had any connection to the Yondaime. I'd left her with five nude female clones, with instructions to help her take a nice warm bath… and enjoy themselves. I grit my teeth with white-hot anger, as receiving the memories of the experience just wasn't entirely the same. "Grrrr…" I growled and only just managed to stop myself from putting a fist through the wall. Calming exercise, calming meditation, how did that go again?

"Hey, old man. For cockblocking me today, I'm never ever going to tell you the solution to paperwork," were the first words that came out of my mouth when I entered his office. The cat-masked ANBU who'd escorted me, a svelte figure of a woman I knew was Yugao Uzuki, spluttered and coughed. Old man Sarutobi? He actually fell off his chair. And no, I didn't laugh, I was still really, really angry. I didn't realize how pissed I was until I saw the arcs of lightning flashing around my wrists and clenched fists and noticed the wind sending documents flying around - with the window closed. The sight calmed me down instantly. It was a highly visible sign of my improvement, a display of such a close connection to my primary elemental affinities, and a simultaneous one of opposed elements at that, as wind was superior to lightning - for a moment, I was actually impressed with myself.

"Ha ha, never mind that. Anyway, what did you want that couldn't wait for me to come up for my missions tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's your day off," he remarked in a very even tone.

"So what? That just means I don't have to waste my time with Useless. I have permission to take as many D-ranks as I want, the money's come in really useful. See this?" I grabbed the sleeve of my new shirt in proud display. "I actually managed to buy clothes! Isn't that amazing? Now if I could only remember where I bought them. I sent like fifty clones to buy stuff I could wear that, you know, would make me look like a real ninja, huh? I think only three of them weren't tossed out of the shops I tried. Kami, if only I could remember which three shops those were. Hey, old man, any chance you could help me figure that out?" I asked him plaintively. The name of the game was damage control. Being the idiot was much safer. Showing off got you watched and penciled into numerous bingo books. While having a large price on one's head was a point of pride with some shinobi, I didn't much care for the idea. Inevitable, probably, but there was absolutely no reason to hasten that day.

"I'm afraid I can't help you there," he sounded genuinely regretful. Probably wasn't eager to see that horrid orange garment again. "Who is Useless?" he inquired, a frown making him look even more wrinkled than usual.

"Oh, Kakashi of course. Who else could it be?" I cocked my head in a gesture of utter bewilderment. Yugao, still standing beside me, twitched visibly.

"Kakashi Hatake? Your sensei? Useless?" he seemed confused, and only grew more confused when I started laughing hysterically and repeating the word 'sensei'. I gave it a minute before drawing in a shuddering breath.

"Oh, that was funny, my sensei. Ha. Yeah, he's utterly useless. Stands around reading his porn while we do D-ranks. As for sensei, don't be ridiculous. He hasn't taught us anything and I doubt he ever will. Doesn't have any respect for rookie-genin, I suppose, always makes us wait three hours in the training field before a mission. Except for something he called a team building exercise which was more of a waste of time than these silly missions. Pretty pathetic. Hey, is there any chance I could go back to the academy? It's actually less boring than what he has us doing, and I might actually learn something there."

"It's just the first week," he tried to reassure me while visibly struggling to conquer his mirth. "It's natural that he tries to get you working together properly before offering any serious training. That's one of Konoha's biggest advantages in the field, teamwork," he nodded gravely, seemingly lost in memories for a moment.

"So if two months pass and he still hasn't taught me anything, could I get out of team seven?" I outright begged.

He blinked for a moment in surprise, then nodded, "Very well, I'll allow that."

"Great! Well, I'll see you again sometimes, Old Man. Kami, those babies were brutal. I bet enemy ninja are way easier to defeat! You should have seen it, Sakura was all ga-ga over how cute the little munchkins were, then bang! One of them pissed right on her face! I laughed so hard, she almost killed me. Then there was the vomit, and the poop, and…" I coughed to avoid laughing at his expression. "Never mind, I don't think you want to hear about that. Good night!" I ran off, flickering back home as soon as I was out of sight. I couldn't believe that worked. I was just so amazing.

And so were my clones.

I swear, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I entered my bedroom. Sakura was tied up on my bed, literally tied to the bedposts in the silk-wrapped wire used for mesh clothing, completely naked, snoring softly in her sleep.

We were just so amazing.

"Hey," my nude Naruko clone whispered. "We turned her inside out, gave her a very hot bath, then fed her properly. We explained that we couldn't really be with such a bony girl, it just wasn't attractive. The whole planned rigamarole of hard-training kunoichi and eating a lot, we reluctantly accepted when she begged us for help. Then we celebrated our compact, she's eager to move in. After we wake her up properly tomorrow, she'll be happy to realize she's already moved in," Naruko, as I now thought of her, giggled, her breasts moving in an absolutely hypnotizing manner with each gentle sound of merriment. "Oooh, someone's happy to see me!" she rolled off the bed, knelt before me and… boy did I love my life. Thank you shadow clones. Rest in peace, you backstabbing bastard Mizuki. Oh yeah!

I woke up at five in the morning, as usual. I rarely needed more than three or four hours' sleep to banish any accumulated fatigue, and I needed to work really hard to get tired. This last week, I'd worked harder than ever, both physically and with chakra. I was gonna be so strong!

It wasn't my regular bed, that one was taken up by Sakura. She really was too bony to comfortably sleep with like that. The pair of clones that kept me company were probably more affectionate, too - or at least, much better at it.

After a couple of hours' hard workout, I performed the by now usual routine of memory receipt and summoning up a new legion for training, skill training and spying, added five clones for Sakura training - she was going to wake up every day at seven sharp, eat well and train hard, then do the same when we got done with missions - or spend the whole day on it when we were off missions. Her breaks would be much longer than mine, of course, and the clone girls would keep her very happy and well fed. She needed to build up her strength and stamina, acquire some speed and master the basic techniques. I left a storage scroll with some of my blood for the gravity and resistance seals my clones would put on her after they woke her up. Running her ragged would not only build up her skills, but keep her from thinking too hard and help her get used to her new circumstances. The clones would also have her write a letter to her mother. Damn, I wish I could see that woman's face when she read it. Actually, I could! I popped out a clone for that specific purpose, just for the fun of it.

I had another mission for my spy clones, at that - I needed to find a really evil rich merchant to have my blood clone replace. Of course, I also need my skill clones to learn all about how mercantile endeavors worked in practice - it wouldn't do for my new business to fail. One of the plans my clones had roughly mapped out was the distribution of blood clones and my mercantile network throughout the entirety of the Elemental Lands. The first was to handle Konoha, the second the capital of Fire Country, then Grass, River, Tea, and so on - covering the countries geographically closest and gradually expanding.

Today was also the first time I had my clones actually trying to use medical chakra and master a genjutsu. My chakra control was easily low jounin level by now, which admittedly wasn't as wonderful as it seemed. I had about a hundred times the chakra of an elite jounin, let alone a novice one, which made me comparatively as able, but in practice even Sasuke might have better control. Sakura almost certainly did, as she had barely more chakra than a second year academy student. Honestly, she was a disgrace to kunoichi everywhere. Medical chakra was needed to help her advance more quickly, as hastened recovery from physical exhaustion and chakra depletion was the most basic thing a medic could do. They just never did that in practice because their chakra was too important for dealing with actual injuries, a problem I didn't have. Adding good and plentiful food to the gravity and resistance seals, and of course all the rest of the brutal training regimen she was going to survive, and she might just be able to go head to head with Sasuke in a couple of months and do a credible job of it.

A shower, a meal, and I was off to run circles around Konoha with the seals raised another notch. Pretty soon I'll be running with three of myself on my back in the face of a hurricane. Wonder of wonders, I actually met Sakura on my ninth lap, waving at her cheerfully and winking at the two clones bracketing her as I sped past them. Three hours of that done, I stopped to eat again, then went on to weight training, calisthenics, acrobatics, even a bit of juggling to see if my clones' training had stuck - and it most certainly did, keeping eight apples in the air wasn't difficult. I also realized that I needed to toughen up as well, not merely get stronger. That meant hitting boards and later stone to toughen my hands and feet, and actual sparring to get used to taking blows and fighting past them. Pain wasn't just a great motivator to improve your skill. A shinobi was pretty much guaranteed to get hurt, and if you froze just because someone put out your eye, cut off your hand or stuck a sword in your gut, you might lose your head and life. Learning to ignore the pain, toughen it out or compartmentalize it and fight on, was absolutely vital. It was just troublesome, how many vital skills a shinobi required, and it made me doubt the wisdom of my elders yet again.

Using barely trained children as genin to take on missions outside the village seemed very stupid. Losing valuable potential ninjas so early was a true loss to the village, and many times a clan. Instead, they should be trained harder for longer. I wasn't really aware of the economics of the shinobi business, but doing it that way seemed much better in the mid-to-long term, as your genin proved to capable of beating everyone else's chunin, your average jounin was close to S-rank, and your reputation for impeccable service and unbeatable shinobi grew.

Breathing hard, shirtless and a bit wet from a quick dip into a stream, I flickered over to my favorite place for a picnic, only to find Sakura there, back against a tree and a Naruko clone feeding her tidbits. Her eyes were closed, her hair matted with sweat, and she was dressed very, very differently. She actually looked sexy, not just pretty.

"Hey there, Sakura-chan, good to see you're training hard. I was just thinking that if you keep this up, in a couple of months you might be able to beat every other genin who graduated. Hell, there's a chunin exam scheduled in Konoha in about four months. Keep up a hard pace, and with your chakra control and brains you're guaranteed a promotion," I said cheerfully and joined her. Unsealing a hot tray full of food, I stopped talking and got to eating. The amounts I consumed each and every day were unsettlingly large. Anyone else trying to eat half as much would have exploded.


	7. Chapter 7

Food exploded from my mouth when I saw just what Naruko was doing to get the almost somnolent Sakura to react. Instead of her usual red dress, she was clad in a brief dark green top that showed that she actually did have some development - if there was more up there, the bottom part would be bare - and a short black skirt, slit at the sides, with black gloves and mesh wire protection and some bandages covering much of her legs, shoulders and neck, leaving her thighs and most of her middle exposed. There was very obviously no underwear worn, as Naruko displayed when she lifted Sakura's skirt and started using her fingers, in an exercise of chakra I was intimately familiar with. In public!

Sure, Naruko was supposed to keep her sexed up and half-dazed on bliss… Still red in the face, I had to admit to myself that she was just following orders. In exemplary fashion, though it wasn't exactly helpful to the poor girl's ability to hold up her side of a conversation. And yes, this was an isolated area in the woods, and we were ninja with steadily improving sensory abilities, with a cordon of clones around me at all times. Perhaps I just felt a lot more daring in female form? Still red in the face, I couldn't really look away as I kept stuffing food into my mouth, groaning in sympathy as my new sex-toy shuddered and convulsed. Naruko winking at me and licking her fingers clean did not serve to calm me, not at all.

When the clones from the morning missions reported in, I flickered away to the top of my father's head, the last in the row of Hokage carved into the mountain overlooking Konoha and the great forest the first of them, Hashirama Senju, raised from the plains with his Mokuton, the bloodline ability of Wood Release. It was a place I rarely came to anymore, and only when I really needed to think.

I was almost entirely alienated from people. Just a few acquaintances were the sum and whole of my connection to Konoha. After my recent growth in skill, I felt older, wiser, even if the tens of thousands of hours I'd experienced over the course of the week were not tangible, or at least not entirely. The comparatively few hours I'd trained physically made an astonishingly real difference in me - stronger, faster, with even more endurance, and it showed on my body. There were no callouses on my hands, but the skin there no longer grew irritated, even after hours of practice. When practice kunai hit me where my dodging failed, there were no longer any bruises and it hardly hurt, even though I knew just how hard my clones threw them. I realized just now that I was breaking Sakura, and I didn't feel bad about it. Maybe I was a demon. Of course, people could be much worse than the mindless forces of death and destruction the nine bijuu were said to be, deliberate cruelty always was. Considering my intentions, plans and possible repercussions, the world I was aiming for was worth many sacrifices. I just had to make sure not to lose myself in the doing, which was difficult without anyone at my side.

Before making any adjustments, I decided to wait and see. Perhaps Sakura and if I could get her, Hinata, would be helpful. If not, there would be other possibilities, I was sure. There was no rush, but I still felt that everything was going too slowly, that I could do and be so much more. I'd gotten a good measure of just how fast I recovered from expending the massive amounts of chakra required for a training legion, and it occurred to me that having just two a day was a sub-optimal use of resources. Reading books on trade and finance was altering my perspective on how to accomplish things, focusing my thoughts on efficiency and optimization. I'd also found some useful books on making the best use of your time and scheduling. It was time to work not merely harder, but smarter as well. Ten thousand clones a day were ten thousand times me training, and as I trained smarter and better, the small improvement would be magnified by exactly that number.

For people, I'd wait and see. Sakura might be worth my time in a month, and I'd try to help Hinata at the end of this week. For now, I'd simply get better, at anything and everything.

The week passed almost too quickly for me to notice, I was constantly working and frequently exhausted, both mentally and physically. A few notable things happened that would shake things up.

First, I finally managed to transfer clone memories without destroying the clone, and the improvement was telling. I mastered the shadow clone jutsu to my present limits of control, and managed to make pure spy clones with comparatively little chakra expenditure.

Second, the blood clone jutsu went perfectly. It was a flawless duplicate with all of my skills and abilities, and it was connected to the memory network. Unfortunately, it could not regain its chakra from food, or even by receiving more of my blood. It took a day, but I managed to transfer chakra to it directly, and after two days, I managed a rudimentary chakra storage seal. For Konoha, this would do, but I needed something much better if I wanted my plans to work. Orochimaru's partial notes on his curse seal mentioned something called natural energy, and a further investigation showed that it was something sages could access. What I needed was a seal that would absorb natural energy and transform it into personal chakra for my blood clones, but I was completely stuck and flailing in the dark here. How the hell does one access natural chakra? I'd need a sage to help me with this, though I did set a regular clone group to experiment. Alone, it would probably take years to crack this puzzle, and coming up with an alternative might require decades, assuming there was one. Well, I could try to siphon chakra from captive shinobi enemies, but that idea did not sit well with me. A temporary solution would be sending off shadow clones to recharge the blood clones via Hiraishin teleportation. Okay, that was decent stopgap measure, assuming I ever managed to master that insanely complicated time/space jutsu. After mastering the Pulse Step, I'd started on the jutsu that earned my father the cognomen Yellow Flash and a flee on sight order in the bingo books after he slaughtered an army, but it was going very, very slowly, and not very surely.

The third was the most unusual and unexpected, my introduction to genin team nine, Team Gai. For a week and half, I proved to be the only shinobi sufficiently dedicated to training to run around Konoha in the early morning, starting at five. When they got back from an escort mission to Lightning Country, I learned that not all Konoha shinobi were lazy layabouts. Kami, they started training at four! Meeting Rock Lee and Gai sensei - anyone so willing and eager to teach me was more than worthy of the title - was quite the experience. It was actually amusing, I'd improved enough that it took an hour for our paths to cross.

"Yosh! A healthy training run in the morning! What dedication, what youth! Burning youth!" a tall man in green spandex with prominent orange legwarmers, his hair in a rather unattractive bowl-cut, shouted as he passed me in a rush of air. He had the thickest pair of eyebrows I'd ever seen and wore a jounin vest.

"Yosh! A healthy training run in the morning! What dedication, what youth! Burning youth!" a boy in green spandex with prominent orange legwarmers, his hair in a rather unattractive bowl-cut, shouted as he passed me in a rush of air. He had the thickest pair of eyebrows I'd ever seen and bandages wrapped around his arms and hands.

I was momentarily confused at almost seeing double, before putting on a rush of speed, soon catching up to the boy, who looked to be around my age. "There's someone else running, right? Who looks like you?" I shouted.

"Gai sensei! I must catch up to Gai sensei in my training, or I will run a hundred laps around Konoha on my fingertips! Yosh!" he shouted right back and increased his pace.

It was a good thing that this was one of the mornings I hadn't picked to increase the charge on my training seals, gravity and resistance, because even after an hour of running, I didn't have any trouble picking up the pace enough to catch up to both of them. It also served notice that I wasn't pushing myself hard enough.

We kept running at the increased pace for almost another two hours, both of them shouting out periodically about youth and fire, to my bemusement.

"Ah!" Gai cried out. "It would be most youthful to keep running, but I cannot keep the rest of my team waiting. It is a testament to the youth of Konoha's genin that another one ran with us! The fires of youth burn deeply in you! I'm Gai Maito, and this is Rock Lee, my dear student."

"Gai sensei!" "Lee!"

What followed was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen in my life, as the two jumped into the air and hugged each other, and a genjutsu of a setting sun appeared behind them, waves crashing against the rocks. My attempts to dispel it were all for naught, and I instantly instituted a new project - genjutsu immunity seal. Illusion techniques manipulate the flow of chakra to the brain, and can be combated in three ways that I knew of. You could stop the flow of chakra in your body momentarily, pulse your chakra or receive an infusion of chakra from another, or the least desirable - hurting yourself physically. The first stage of the seal I conceived of would detect the activation of a genjutsu, activated by the intrusion of foreign chakra, and pulse stored chakra to counteract it. That one, I expected, would come easily to me once I learned how to reliably cast illusions - I was getting there, but slowly. The second stage, a perfect barrier to genjutsu, would intercept foreign chakra of that specific type, either to store it for my use, to power another seal, or merely dissipate it. Yes, definitely another team for that one.

By the time I finished theorizing, they were done, thank Kami. A brief explanation of my training routine, and I was immediately and cordially invited to spar.

"Ahem, well, I'd love to, really. It's just…," I was truly embarrassed.

"Ah, you require permission from your sensei?" Gai nodded.

"No, no, that's not it. You see, in the academy no one would spar with me. You're the foremost taijutsu expert in Konoha, I believe, and I… frankly, suck at it. I know the academy style, if barely. In fact, I was going to pick a few styles and start learning them this week. Kenjutsu too. Really, sparring with me right now would be a joke rather than a challenge," I squirmed at the unpleasant truth. "Well, unless I can use ninjutsu, I'm pretty good with that. And I'm studying genjutsu and medical jutsu and seals and…"

"What youth! Gai sensei, we must help Naruto learn the youthful ways of taijutsu! It is a sacred duty to fan the flames of his youth!" Lee shouted enthusiastically.

"I'll be happy to help with ninjutsu and sealing in return," I offered immediately. The chance to spar with Gai's team was invaluable.

"Alas, I cannot learn such things! I will prove that a ninja can excel with taijutsu alone! I shall be a genius of hard work!" Lee announced loudly, waving his fist in the air.

"Indeed, and I have promised my youthful student that I will support him in all things!" Gai responded. Which must be the only way he could have passed the academy, I quickly realized, as he obviously couldn't use the basic three jutsus normally required for graduation. Then I blinked at Gai's words.

"Do you mean to say," I looked at him and enunciated with precision, "that you do not use ninjutsu or genjutsu routinely because of Lee?"

"Precisely! It is…"

I cut him off, "Most unyouthful. If you don't show him what jutsus other than taijutsu techniques do, how will he learn to counter, dodge, predict or otherwise overcome them? Not to mention that in the field, not using the best technique you have for what is needed can bring harm to comrades and failure to missions. Most unyouthful," I shook my head in honest disgust. "Each path has advantages and disadvantages, and a true shinobi uses everything he has when it is needed or useful. Are you truly teaching your team some different way? If you don't fight him with genjutsu, how will he survive his first real encounter with one? Especially since he seems all too eager to mention his vulnerability. Teach him taijutsu, certainly, but teach him discretion and cunning. Youth and enthusiasm fail against old age and guile, as the shinobi saying goes. Youth, enthusiasm and guile are much more likely to win. There are a lot of things you can do without external use of chakra. Try to test things a bit more - have you tried using activating seals with your chakra-charged blood, for example? Have you mastered ninja tools and traps? Stealth, awareness and silent killing? The strongest ninja will fall to surprise, especially if you can mask your chakra," I finished, almost out of breath, still fuming with anger. It was just so stupid.

"That is… Gai sensei, that is so brilliantly youthful! Gai sensei?" Lee looked at him when he failed to reply. Gai was looking at, expression still and carved in stone.

"It is true, Lee, he is correct. I have failed you, failed my team…"

"No, you haven't," I cut him off again. "They're all alive, right? That's automatically success in most peoples' views. I'm betting you haven't failed many, if any, missions. What you haven't done is teach them in the best possible manner, which I'm sure almost every sensei is guilty of. Perfection is out of reach of mere mortals. All you have to do is better, every time, every day."

"Very youthful indeed, young Naruto! Of my team, Neji needs little supervision, as he studies with his clan in the ways of the Gentle Fist, and is reluctant to learn anything else. I would like to spar with you, and perhaps take you up on your offer! Tenten could use a tutor in ninjutsu, and in return she can help you with taijutsu. She is also very good with weapons. Come, let us test your skills!"

So we followed him to training ground nine, and I made sure to cancel my training seals. Even without them, I didn't believe that I had more than a third of his speed, at best, without using my trump card, but that was still very likely to impress him favorably. Strength-wise, I hoped to have a tenth as much, but I wasn't optimistic. I needed not to be hit, which playing with shadow clones and replacement was easier than he would estimate.

"Neji, Tenten!" Gai thundered at Lee's teammates, a long-haired arrogant looking Hyuuga, from the branch house according to the position of his headband, and a cute girl with her brown hair collected out of the way in two buns. "This is Naruto Uzumaki, I will spar with him and we will then begin our youthful training for the day." Both were obviously intrigued at the notion, though Neji was… acting in a way that reminded me of Sasuke. Ugh.

"Let us begin!" Gai announced and charged at me, fist extended. A loud explosion sounded as the great clone explosion blew him away. "Very youthful, your fires burn strong!" a badly singed Gai ran back into the clearing, charging again in the very same manner… until the earth beneath his feet softened to mud, then hardened to rock. "Excellent, elemental jutsu!" his fist shattered the rock, but he only took another two steps before I caught him in hardening mud again. This time, when his fist came down, the rock liquified before catching it as well - and I threw a kunai, multiplying it into fifty shadow kunai clones, which skewered a log. As a precaution, I exchanged positions with another explosive shadow clone, a bit annoyed that the lightning clone jutsu was on the study list for tomorrow. It was perfect against taijutsu maniacs, pinpoint disabling compared to area of effect blast I couldn't afford to overcharge in a mere spar.

Gai's earth clone was the only casualty of my clone's demise, and I opened my senses to locate him, releasing a great blast of wind to throw him away, the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, before jumping down to the clearing and calling up three kill teams of five clones each, with enough charge for several area of effect jutsu. They lasted longer and did better than I hoped, but three minutes later a bedraggled, singed and bleeding Gai, clothes utterly ruined, joined me in the clearing. The memories showed exactly how strong and fast he could be, and if he was taking it easy on my clones, that was even more frightening. Only four of the fifteen got so much as a single jutsu off - admittedly, I didn't reveal my chakra shield or tried the earth armor jutsu I'd managed yesterday, but I was quite sure he wasn't showing everything off either.

"Enough," he announced with a wide smile, teeth sparkling in the light, "you have shown yourself to be a capable ninjutsu specialist, as is only to be expected of a student of my eternal rival! Tenten!" he called out, and I didn't have the heart to correct him concerning Kakashi's teaching.

"Yes, Gai sensei?" she jumped back into the clearing, staring at me intently.

"Naruto Uzumaki will be helping you with ninjutsu and seals, while you help with his taijutsu, which he has informed us is not practiced in. In addition, he has some knowledge of traps, stealth and ninja tools. I'm sure you will use your time together well."

"Ahem, Gai sensei?" I inquired hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"What is Tenten's elemental affinity?"

"Fire, her youth burns fiercely!"

"Excellent. Shall we?" I sent a foxy smile her way.


	8. Chapter 8

"Okay, Tenten, to tailor your training to your fighting style and teach you the most suitable jutsus, I need to learn how you fight, and more than that, how you want to develop your unique style."

Tenten seemed a bit doubtful, but willing nonetheless, "I'm a weapon-user, specializing in melee and thrown weapons. Accuracy and forceful mass discharge using storage scrolls. I'm working on better control with wire, and I'm not sure where I want to go from there," she admitted reluctantly.

"So, what is your style vulnerable to?"

"What do you mean?" she seemed confused.

"Your style is that of a short and medium ranged combatant. Now for ranged, you rely on thrown weapons, which makes wind users a problem for you, they can disrupt your barrage no matter how accurate and powerful it is. Also, earth users can simply go below and ignore your ranged attacked or raise earth walls to block you. Close range and relying on weapons can be dangerous against lightning and wind users. The first can shock you through them, unless you're ready with non-conductive weapons, and wind users can cut through anything," I demonstrated by tossing a kunai through a row of trees. "Now how's your chakra control? You can treewalk and waterwalk, right?"

"Of course," she tried to look insulted, but made more of a cute pout than anything.

"Can you balance yourself on a kunai's point?" I ask and demonstrated, balancing myself on a single finger - she merely gaped at me.

"Hey, relax. This is nothing special, a standard jounin level chakra control exercise I mastered recently. The really nasty ones are medical exercises. Trust me, trying to do the work of a sewing machine by controlling the threads with chakra, now that is painful."

Tenten seemed to deflate, her face a mask of depression.

"Tenten, what's wrong?"

"It's just," the words tumbled out, "you're a recent academy graduate, a rookie, and you can do all this! Effortlessly! I thought I was a serious kunoichi, but I just can't compare! How can you do all this?"

"Well, you have to realize that some ninja have inherent advantages, like Neji's byakugan or my Uzumaki chakra capacity. As good as you ever become, you'll likely never be a match for any of the past Hokage, for instance. Bloodlines can be a trump card, but then again, you can go very far indeed. Seals, for example, can counter almost anything - remember the Hiraishin, that and pure speed made the Fourth almost unbeatable. Jirayia and Orochimaru are both very powerful, S-rank, and neither have a bloodline, though I suspect the snake has changed himself enough to be counted as having one. You need to learn the basics of everything and specialize in more than one field if you want to be at the top, and you've actually already begun. You're specializing in weapons and seals, and you can add ninjutsu to that if you keep working on chakra capacity and control and master the jutsus, not merely learn them. Remember that jounin in Konoha need to be able to use jutsu of two elementals, if you want to be exceptional, work on three. Wind would be good, it's synergistic with fire and very useful with weapons, as you saw. I'd recommend earth as well, it's powerful defensively - with a fire speciality you'd have trouble with water. If you can work out combination techniques, you'll eventually have the equivalent of scorch and lava releases. There are also ways to make special weapons, you should explore that. Hell, just using kunai with engraved explosive seals that fire a cloud of poisoned senbon out of a storage seal would make you three times as dangerous. You need to be creative with what you can do, and plan on what you want to learn or be able to do. You have Gai as a sensei and he seems to like, which means you work hard and willingly. With the right teaching," I bowed theatrically, "you'll go very far, if you put in the effort. So how about it?"

"It sounds good," she nodded wide-eyed, "but really… daunting."

"Years of work," I nodded, "you stop training and learning when you're dead or retired. So, ready to start?"

Teaching Tenten was actually rather fun. Her fire affinity was strong enough that after a couple of hours, the leaf in her hand was smouldering consistently. I took a short break to create another shadow legion and absorb one, citing the actually true need to pee, and sent a clone off to write down half a dozen fire jutsu and combination techniques with weapons that she could work on (adding shuriken hidden in a balls of hurled flame, for example), adding the intermediate fire exercise and the basic ones for wind and earth with a single E-rank jutsu for each, and another scroll on the handling and care of explosive seals.

After the snack I provided, she remembered that she was also supposed to teach me. "How about we spar, no ninjutsu, to see where you are?" she suggested.

Just for the fun of it, I decided to remove my training seals. It wasn't really needed, I suspected, but there wasn't much of a reason to keep my speed and strength quiet, seeing as she was used to Lee and her sensei, and would probably keep things discreet if I asked. It did result in our first spar ending very quickly, as I dodged or deflected her thrown weapons with the kunai in my hand and was on her before she could retreat, putting on a burst of speed at the end to appear behind her and touch the back of her neck with a finger.

"Okay, you have speed. In fact, you're almost as fast as Lee without his weights, which is unexpected. You're also not bad at dodging," Tenten confessed, rubbing the back of her neck to take the edge of the zinger I'd provided with my finger. "Now let's try again," she got into her stance, barehanded. "This time move slowly enough for me, we'll just see what you can do."

"Sure, I'll be happy to show you my moves," I smiled and went at it. The results were not entirely unexpected, and she made a running commentary on what I should change and why, where I was too rigid, where my stance was off, why I should put less or more power into blows, how the elbows should be angled and so on.

"Not bad, really, just obviously unpracticed. It's more than enough for a genin, especially with your speed," she tried to comfort me. "Now let's try it again, without jutsu," Tenten offered, producing a bo staff out of a scroll and grinning in anticipation.

We went back and forth for a couple of minutes, and even with my speed and acrobatics, using the trees to leap back and forth, I couldn't do much to her. Her defense with the whirling staff was really impressive. Of course, no jutsu doesn't mean no tools, and I was used to playing with chakra chains when sparring - using chakra-animated ninja wire wasn't that different, and in a trice, I had her wrapped tightly and supine.

"You know, Tenten," I ran a chakra-charged finger down her cheek, "if an enemy captured you like this, they'd seal your chakra and use you. You'd spend the rest of your life being bred," I whispered in her ear, enjoying the furious flush on her face. "Taken repeatedly and brutally for the pleasure of your masters," a few gentle caresses had her almost painfully close to release.

I'd read enough books by now to realize that I was mentally screwed up, and one of the points I wasn't good at was accepting that other people cared, that I deserved to be cared for by someone. Almost certainly, that was why I wasn't giving Sakura the chance to say no, and the same would go for Hinata, I'd already decided. Tenten, however, did not need saving. I had no reasonable excuse to overwhelm her with seduction jutsu. It didn't mean that I didn't want to, however. A nice, cute girl who was actually willing to spar with me and teach me? That listened respectfully when I taught her, and felt inadequate when I showed her something of what I could do? Hell yes, I wanted that. Not enough, however, to piss off Gai sensei and her teammates by taking the choice from her. The plan was to have her chasing me. The idea of it was even more attractive than she was. Tenten wasn't a fangirl, she clearly worked at being a serious kunoichi, so it would be quite the balm to my ego. There were enough scars there I needed a lot of medicine, ha ha.

"Okay, that's enough for today, I think. Time to cool off, huh?" not laughing at her expression when I stepped away and left her side, so red that it looked like steam would rise off her any second now, hurt. I had to clench my teeth and bite my tongue, hard. "We'll spar again tomorrow. I'll leave you with some scrolls for elemental exercises and a few jutsu, so work hard!" I raised my voice in imitation of Lee and Gai, taking one of the postures I'd seen them use, shot her one last smile and flickered away. I left a kunai to free herself with and a small pile of scrolls in my stead.

Not entirely unexpectedly, she was a bit cool towards me for the remainder of the week, though I caught her staring when I took off my shirt a couple of times to wipe away sweat. Gai and Lee were very helpful regarding the three taijutsu styles I decided to master first, before making my own style, and Gai even said something about finding a swordmaster for me to learn from. There's a reason I call him sensei and deny Kakashi the honorific.

And then there was Hinata. It went with utterly ridiculous ease. I swept her off her feet with a kiss and she spent the entire weekend with me, emerging as a new person - who was very eager to please me, and stuttered less. She filed the papers for severing herself from the Hyuuga and adoption into the Uzumaki clan first thing in the new week, carried to the Hokage's tower by the clones I sent for the morning's first round of D-rank missions.

It sparked quite the quiet political storm, and true to my expectations, Hyuuga members kept hounding her. Except that they were only annoying my transformed clones, as I began to train her in private, going so far as to teach her the shadow clone jutsu and supply the chakra she needed for it. I even showed her the copy of the Hyuuga jutsu library and explained my research into removing her cursed seal. She was more than happy with the stopgap measure I employed, which prevented them from hurting or killing her through it. In fact, she was very appreciative, slowly losing her shyness. A good thing Sakura was kept either too tired or too satisfied and languid to be jealous, as my Naruko clones informed her that she wasn't quite good enough for me yet. Speaking of which, Hinata was surprisingly responsive to my female form.

Astonishingly, I wasn't called before the council or threatened with any punishment. The Hokage help firm, standing behind the iron-clad law of the village. I made sure to avoid Neji, but did provide him with a defensive seal like the one I'd given Hinata, and a copy of the relevant law and the forms he needed to file. I did not, however, invite him to join the Uzumaki clan. Kami, no!

Having Hinata with me was nice, because she actually had a lot to teach me from her training to be clan heir, and her ability to see the chakra I manipulated for jutsu and describe what I was doing wrong or should do differently made things so much easier. Her eyes and superior chakra control made her own training advance with remarkable speed, even with just a score of clones, the most I would allowed her to use. Not having my healing factor, using more was just too dangerous. Speaking of healing, Hinata took to medical jutsu with the same ease as she mastered the element of water, and was already adjusting the gentle fist to suit her own unique style. With seals, however, she gave up on advancing much beyond the basics, nor was she fond of genjutsu. I needed to push her there, as her sensei was Konoha's genjutsu mistress, and we could both learn a lot from her - if only indirectly, in my case. She was also resistant when I tried to teach her the sword, until I reminded her of the chakra shield jutsu which provided a perfect defense from the gentle fist, and that there were surely other means of blocking the intrusive chakra that disrupted tenketsu, the nodes in the body through which chakra was distributed - and which the gentle fist struck directly at, ignoring most intervening defenses.

A couple of days into the new week, and my blood clone finally picked someone to replace. At first, I thought the choice ludicrous, but I was persuaded. Shinji Korasu was the primary owner of Konoha's red district, the gambling, prostitution, drugs, smuggling and other illicit activities. There were no Yakuza in Konoha, and while he skirted the edge of the law, he very rarely crossed the line. A true scumbag, it turned out that he also owned a couple of members of the civilian council, and held several ninja in thrall with blackmail. It was not a pleasant idea, but owning Konoha's local criminal king would put me at the heart of an information web, not merely a commercial empire. It would also make it ridiculously easy to find girls to bear the children for my clan, without needing to burden the kunoichi I collected. There were always a few unwanted women or girls with nowhere to turn to. Expanding his commercial empire would also be relatively simple, if done through fronts.

Somehow, everyone knew what Hinata had done, and snickered behind the stiff backs of the Hyuuga, but no one connected it to the one Uzumaki in the village. At my advice, she'd merely informed her teammates that she was no longer Hyuuga, without telling anyone that she was now Hinata Uzumaki. Another year or two of staying in the shadows, and I might be strong enough to survive the sun. Mastering the Hiraishin alone might well do it, with everything else I was picking up, and it presently looked like I'd finish that long before I progressed anywhere with the Rasengan. A spiralling sphere of chakra should not have been that difficult to form. Even with Hinata's kind help, I was losing hundreds of clones to experimentation with that very deadly jutsu.

Moreover, things were advancing well with the security seals I wanted to bypass. A week or two more, and I'd have them. I was already salivating at the thought of the ultimate jutsus I'd find behind those not entirely impervious defenses, and the dirty secrets of the village they thought buried away. The archives of Root, which was apparently led by the crippled oldster Danzo, were encrypted, and I was nowhere near getting the key, which apparently wasn't written down anywhere. I had to admire the rarity of proper security consciousness, but it was no less annoying. Still, I was getting a tons of information by eavesdropping there, much of it distasteful, and eventually I'd figure out the cypher, if only by watching them take reports and transcribe them.

It was near the end of the week, and Sasuke was starting to boil over at the awful missions he took with Sakura and my shadow clones, before Tenten started thawing. I took that as a signal that it was time to tease her again.

"Tenten, are you interested in increasing your speed and strength?" I asked her after we were done with teaching and sparring for the morning.

"You mean, wear weights like Lee?" her eyebrows rose very high, clearly skeptical of the idea.

"Not quite the same. Lee is wearing seriously heavy metal, almost all the time. I don't even want to think what that kind of stress is doing to his body. He might grow to be a very powerful shinobi, but he's unlikely to live past fifty, and if he does, he'll probably be in constant pain as his body breaks up from the abuse. No, that's not what I'd suggest for you. And yes, I did talk to Gai about it, but you know how it is. If we take away his dream, what will be left for him? All I can do is become a better medic and see if I can help in that manner," I shrugged helplessly. "Anyway, what I'm offering you are seals, specifically gravity and resistance seals. Gravity seals are exactly what they sound like, much like Lee's weights, except with much better distribution of weight and ease of removal. I use them myself, but only for a maximum of twelves hours a day, and never more than two days in a row. For you, I'd recommend using them for eight hours every other day. One of the benefits from my heritage is excellent healing and a very long life. You might want to read sometime about the Shodai's wife, Mito Uzumaki. So please, don't do a Lee and overdo it, if you accept that seal. The resistance seal increases the resistance of the air to your movement. Sort of the opposite of the wind part of the Swift Release."

"Swift release?" she inquired.

"Yes, it's a bloodline, a combination of lightning and wind affinities. Lightning to increase the body's response, like the Raikage's Lightning Armor jutsu, and wind to remove the resistance of the air ahead and push behind, I think. Very rare, but incredibly useful. Imagine how deadly the Hyuuga would be with something like that," I grimaced. The combination was one I was planning on for my clan, among other bloodline I wanted to steal, but admittedly, I hadn't even started to look at the bloodline stealing jutsu from the forbidden scroll. I had nowhere near the medical or sealing expertise needed to so much as understand the basic concepts behind it. "Anyway, the combination makes you both stronger and faster, and you control the extent of resistance and how much weight you're interested in bearing. Just be careful when you channel chakra into them, I nearly squashed myself the first time I used the gravity seal," I managed not to frown at her short bark of laughter, it was probably deserved. "You can optimize your body for more strength or more speed, or keep it even. Perhaps consult with Gai regarding the ideal progression of your growth, as more muscle might inhibit flexibility. It depends on your fighting style," I shrugged, not really able to offer much sensible advice here.

"It sounds too good to be true," her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "If they're so useful, why doesn't everyone use them?"

"It only sounds good, I assure you. Oh, the results speak for themselves, you know what I can do at full speed," I lied. "It's a very big pain to actually use them, however. Not torture, but it's not fun. At first, and each time you raise the level, channel more chakra to them, you also need to constantly channel chakra inside your body to reinforce yourself and allow you to move. Then, when you get comfortable, it starts again. Trust me, a major pain, but it is worth it in my opinion. Besides that, you have to find a seals expert to apply them, and we don't have many in Konoha with the requisite expertise. The Uzumaki were renowned and feared for their sealing mastery, so I've worked very hard at it, and have serious natural talent there. I doubt more than thirty shinobi in Konoha can apply them, and I have no idea how many of those with the talent have the knowledge," I lied again. Of course I knew who kept books concerning high-level seals in their homes, and exactly what those books were. Well, mostly. The Nara, Aburame, Senju and a couple of other clans were still a mystery, and over forty jounin and chunin were paranoid enough that I had yet to investigate their homes. Kakashi, annoyingly enough, was one of those, but seeing as he was my father's student, I accounted him among those with enough knowledge of sealing to be able to do it.

Tenten's expression showed her hesitation, but finally she nodded firmly, "Yes, I want to try your seals."

"Excellent," I nodded right back, unsealed my sealing supplies and then a blanket, which I spread on the ground. "Okay then, strip."


	9. Chapter 9

Apologies, but I went too far in empowering Naruto, making things too easy. I'm trying for an actual story rather than a power fantasy, so I'm abandoning this thread and trying again. Let me know if it's an improvement. Thank you all for reading! 


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